More ACC preview stuff

CFN put out more of their ACC previews, this time with an overview of the conference. Like the past few years, they expect Florida State and Clemson to be at the top. While it sucks to have the two powers in our division, this is actually not a bad thing for BC. We are in rebuilding mode and unlikely to challenge for the ACC Championship. Ideally when we are peaking in a season or two, something will have happened to FSU or Clemson (or both) like a coaching change or scandal, that can make BC's rise a little faster.

BC did get mentioned in certain categories like Hot Seat. I don't think there is an appetite to replace Addazio yet. Barring another winless ACC season, I think he's back in 2017.

CFN still doesn't think much of our QB situation.

Baseball headed to NCAA Tournament

For the first time since 2009, BC Baseball is headed to the NCAA Tournament. They will play Tulane in the Oxford regional. We are in a bracket with Ole Miss and Utah. The four teams play a round robin double elimination. It will be tough to advance, but this whole season has been about exceeding expectations. Making the tournament is a good accomplishment and a long time coming. You can see from the clip below, the guys were excited. Let's hope the passion and success carries over to the games.

The Birds are dancing! This is the reaction when you hear your name called for the NCAA Tournament! #RoadToOmahahttps://t.co/roYRhG57It

— BC Baseball (@BCBirdBall) May 30, 2016

BC's ACC revenue continues to grow

As a private institution BC keeps most of its financial matters close to the vest. However, the ACC needs to file public tax documents and they are very revealing. For the 2014-15 school year, BC's ACC revenue share was $26.8 million. That is the money the league pays us for media rights and other shared ticket revenues. In just the ten years we've been in the ACC the annual number has grown by nearly $16 million. This also doesn't include any additional money BC takes in via Hockey East, our own fundraising and our on game day revenues and sponsorship. Being in the ACC has been good business for BC. 

Now because of other league members' revenue streams and larger fanbases, BC is probably still one of the lower revenue teams in the conference. Because of the mix of private schools and BC's conservative nature of reporting, we will probably never get a true picture of where BC stands among its peers. 

What frustrates me about this number is that even with the healthy and growing revenues, BC remains so conservative. How has the indoor practice facility taken so long, when some of this revenue could have off set up-front costs? Also, why do we still nickle and dime so many coaches and balk at paying players? I don't want to spend money to just to spend, but it is clear that BC could do more.  

RIP Don Horton

Former Offensive Line Coach Don Horton passed away after battling Parkinson's disease. Horton coached at BC for 10 years, all under Tom O'Brien. He then followed TOB to NC State. As part of the Cincinnati contingent, Horton recruited many of our Ohio prospects first as a Tight Ends coach and then as a Offensive Line coach.

If you follow many former BC players on social media, you will see an outpouring of emotion and respect for their former coach. My thoughts and prayers go out to those guys as well as Horton's family.

Baseball faces waiting game

As the various Conference Tournaments play out, BC Baseball is left to wait. Many projections still have them in the NCAAs, but upsets and the ever-changing RPIs make things unpredictable. I don't know if other ACC "bubble" teams like Clemson and Wake had good ACC Tournies, while BC fell out after one game. BC's resume is strong enough, but nothing is guaranteed.

Once things wrap up, newer projections will roll out and then the real invites. And unfortunately an NCAA invitation will influence how this season is viewed.

Vegas win totals for BC and other FBS schools

Win totals bets have been out for BC and other programs for a little while, but I have not really looked at them since the end of Spring Ball and transfer season. At this point, Vegas has most of the information on the teams that they are going to get. The consensus on BC for 2016? 6.5 wins.

That number is pretty perfect to me. Obviously I want to take the over, but still feel BC will be around that area. The other thing I like about the number is that Vegas is throwing out last season and setting the number close to what Addazio achieved in his first two seasons. They see him as a 6.5 win coach. Now consistently winning at just above .500 is not ideal, but at least it is winning. I would demand a lot more, but getting to consistent winning is the first step in creating a better program.

McDuffie joins recruiting class

It has been a busy week for Coach Addazio, as he and his staff collected another verbal late Monday. This time it was New York defensive player Isaiah McDuffie.

McDuffie originally committed to Syracuse. After their coaching change, he reopend the process and picked  BC.

BC adds New Jersey Linebacker

Paul Theobald is the newest member of Addazio's 2017 recruiting class. He verballed Tuesday via Twitter and gives the class more defensive talent and continues the push into New Jersey.

A Seton Hall Prep product, Theobald carries 3 stars from 247 and 3 stars from Rivals. He is unranked by Scout. Other than BC, his best offers were from Rutgers and Northwestern.

Things won't stop now. Other rumored verbals are looming and should come in the following days.

Flutie DUI and other links

Natick Police arrested and charged BC WR Troy Flutie with DUI. Based on the report, it doesn't appear that anyone was hurt. While this is serious for Flutie, now that he is not part of the QB rotation, it is less of a big deal for BC Football. What will be interesting is to see how Addazio punishes Troy. My guess is he will miss the season opener in Ireland.

According to Jeff Goodman, Matt Milon is headed to William & Mary. Like all basketball transfers, I am trying not to overreact and hope that Christian's plans for replacing Milon's productivity work.

Villanova did not see a Flutie effect from winning the NCAA Tournament.

More opponent previews

CFN put out two more ACC Atlantic previews. This week they looked at Clemson and Louisville. Of the two, I think Louisville is the better matchup for BC. Last year we really frustrated their Offense. While I trust Petrino to work out the kinks, I still think an aggressive approach can rattle the still young Jackson.

Clemson will probably start the season very high in the polls. We will be viewed as one of their conference cupcakes. Knowing Addazio, we will probably be highly conservative and hope to keep it close. Maybe things will change with the new Offensive leaders, but I still don't think Addazio will suddenly become a daring game manager.

The ultimate good news is that both games are at home.

BC Baseball makes the ACC Tournament

Congrats the Boston College Baseball team. By beating Georgia Tech twice on Saturday, the team earned a spot in the ACC Tournament. This is the first time the team qualified for the ACC Tourney since 2010. The teams will play again for the ACC Tourney Opener on Tuesday.

Addazio preparing for Georgia Tech already

If there is one thing to takeaway from Thursday's ESPN article on Addazio and Paul Johnson, it is that BC will be ready for the Jackets' triple option offense. Addazio has been studying it for years. Because we are beginning the season facing a gimmick offense, I agree with Addazio that we need to start now. Defeating them won't just be about maintaining gap control and assignments. It is also about their speed and cutbacks.

But no matter what Addazio does, Johnson will have a counter. That is the beauty of a gimmick offense. You create problems for the opponent and can change the game with a few momentum plays. Because of the gimmick, Johnson is never totally lost like BC was last year. He can create layers of depth and plug new people in from year to year. Addazio will never have that luxury if he keeps switching OCs and philosophies.

More recruiting help from Ohio State

Urban Meyer must really like Addazio. We knew about BC joining Ohio State on various satellite camps. Now BC will be part of Ohio State's on-campus camps in Columbus. These series of one day Mega Camps will also include some other friends of Meyer as well as many MAC schools.

This works for BC on a few levels. There will be hundreds of Ohio kids going through there and Meyer can't take them all. BC might be able to build relationships with the B list guys. We've been recruiting Ohio for years, so this will also allow us to encourage Ohio targets who can't make it to Boston to go to these Meyer camps.

This might seem like a lot of effort for just a few relevant kids, but I am glad Addazio is doing this. We need to turn over every rock we can find.

Darby to Arizona State

BC made a late push for New Jersey wide receiver Frank Darby, but he's headed to Arizona State. Since the 2016 recruit came on the radar so late, it doesn't really impact BC short-term or long-term plans. He would have been a "nice to have" type of player, but no need to lose sleep over it. The best sign of the whole affair was that the Admissions Office didn't get in the way of his recruitment. Late academic conflict is usually a red flag but clearly Addazio and Admissions came to some sort of common ground.

Darby playing at Arizona State probably won't come back to haunt us either. 

TV time "officially" set for Ireland game

We've all known about the kickoff and coverage of the BC-Georgia Tech Ireland game for months. Tuesday, ESPN made it official as they released their opening weekend coverage schedule. Basically it is wall-to-wall college football starting the Thursday before Labor Day. BC's game will be Saturday morning at 7:30 ET on ESPN2.

The ability to put live football on Saturday morning is really the biggest reason for the Ireland game. I am sure the Irish like the tourism boost and BC and Georgia Tech appreciate the marketing opportunity, but this is a TV event.

CFN's early look at FSU

It is the start of preview season and the first up is College Football News' ACC preview. They began with traditional power Florida State. Florida State was a critical turning point in BC's 2015 season. Wade went down and the offense couldn't do anything. Yet we still played them relatively close. In fact, Addazio has played the 'Noles well in each of his seasons...with nothing to show for it.

I actually think we have a shot against FSU this year. If our Defense remains competitive, there is no reason to think this game won't be close. It will be on BC's offense to help Addazio finally get over the FSU hump.

Also, CFN thinks BC will be the 10th best team in the ACC and cause all sorts of problems for the upper echelon of the conference.

ACC Network not dead yet

With cord cutting and ESPN killing Disney's stock, the ACC Network has never felt further away. Yet Awful Announcing read through the ACC Meeting tea leaves and thinks the project may still be viable.

Although the specialty networks have been money drains for ESPN, my guess is they are still willing to do them just to ensure a long-term relationship with the ACC. Look at what is happening with the Big Ten. They have their own network independent of ESPN and are now looking for another blockbuster TV deal. I am sure that as ESPN and Disney decide how to budget their rights deals, they would rather have a true partnership (with equity) with the ACC than overpay to lose money on a Big Ten deal. 

Awful Announcing referenced the impatient ACC Athletic Directors. I am sure that is a factor, but the bigger factor is ESPN stopping the cord cutting. Once they have that figured out, then they can move onto creating the ACC Network.

Simmons signs with Broncos and other links

Justin Simmons signed with the Broncos. Under the current bargaining agreement, there is not much negotiating room. Your pick really determines your pay.

If Mehdi Abdesmad doesn't make the Titans, he will be in high demand in Canada. As a Canadian, he can fill a valuable roster slot.

This guy thinks BC has the 5th best QB situation in the division. I remain more optimistic. If one of the guys steps up, we could surprise plenty of teams.

More looking back at Reid's 1994 Defense

Here is another video of 1994 game footage. This time it was the season opener vs Michigan. BC allowed 36 points, so it wasn't Reid's best effort that year. However, there is still a lot to learn. You can see that the front seven looks and formations are very similar to Brown's. Like Brown we also did a lot of twisting and stunting. 

Despite the score, the defense still made plays. This was a talented Michigan offense and the game swung on some big performances from future NFL guys like Toomer or Biakabutuka, not from bad schemes.  

ACC to create replay command center

The ACC is going to follow the NFL and create a central command center to handle all replays. Decisions will no longer be made at the stadium. While I don't think this will save BC from the occasional bad call, I do appreciate the consistency the new system should bring.